Baseboard hot water heating assembly



Sept. 11, 1962 R. L. CAMPBELL ETAL 3,053,513

BASEBOARD HOT WATER HEATING ASSEMBLY Filed July 20, 1959 I 3 I WW li 5' o 26 E v I f6 5 5 IIIIlllII/I; -/l|1|// 1\// I 1 H v INVENTORS.

Redo/l L. ('a/lvpbefl Wax L. [ampbzl/ I I l y iTIOR/VBQS? nited 1' This invention relates generally to the field of heating and plumbing in connection with building construction, and more particularly to installation procedures such as to appreciably reduce labor and material costs through use of a novel coupling forming an initial part of the heating unit per se.

It is the most important object of the present invention to provide a coupling made in a manner to accomplish the advantageous results above enumerated by virtue of our having taken into consideration not only the nature of the heating unit itself, but more particularly, the structure of buildings within which the heating system is installed. To this extent, it must be recognized that floors of most buildings, including the joists thereof, as well as wall locations, foundation plates and other framework, while somewhat standard, vary from building to building thereby ordinarily necessitating an on the job adaptation of the system to the particular conditions with which the workmen are subjected.

Accordingly, it is an important object of the present invention to provide a universal coupling, permitting the making of the necessary connections easily and quickly regardless of the many differing building constructions that are encountered.

More particularly, it is the object of the present invention to provide a coupling that will permit operable connection between the radiator of a hot water heating system and the supply pipes therefor, regardless of the location of the radiator and irrespective of the nature or Widths of the floor joists that are necessarily interposed between the radiator and the supply pipes.

Still further, it is an important object of the present invention to provide a coupling that may be connected with the radiator at the factory and yet packaged for shipment in a compact bundle.

In the drawing:

FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of a package partly broken away to illustrate the baseboard hot water heating unit having the novel couplings of the present invention operably associated therewith.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary, vertical, cross-sectional view through a portion of a building, showing a pair of the heating units fully installed; and

FIG. 3 is an enlarged, fragmentary, perspective view of one of the heating units in association with a building, a portion of the latter being broken away for clearness.

The principles of the instant invention are illustrated in connection with a conventional baseboard-type of hot water heating unit broadly designated by the numeral 10, such unit including a housing 12 for an elongated radiator 14.

The details of construction of the unit form no part of the instant invention, but in the structure chosen for illustration, the radiator 14 is disposed between a pair of vertical panels 16 and 18 forming a part of the housing 12. Housing 12 is entirely open throughout its length below radiator 14, panel 16 being wider than the panel 18 and, therefore, extending not only below, but above the longitudinal edges of the panel 18. There is presented therefore, a cold air inlet beneath the radiator 14, and a hot air outlet between the upper edge of panel 18 and a top wall 20 that extends forwardly from the back panel 16.

tes Pate End caps 22 complete the housing 12, and while the panel 18 is removable because of releasable clips 24, such steps are unnecessary during installation of the unit 10 because of the improvements of the instant invention as will hereafter be made clear. It is but necessary to secure the units 10 to walls 26 or 28 through use of suitable fasteners 30, since the fastener-receiving openings 32 in panel 16 are easily accessible from the front of the unit 10.

Radiator 14 includes a longitudinal conduit 34 having a series of fins 36, and it is to the conduit 34 that the novel couplings 38 and 40 of the instant invention are attached at the factory, it being noted that elbows 42 and 44 are provided for such purpose at the ends of the conduit 34.

Couplings 38 and 40 are identical and, therefore, but one will be described, it being noted at the outset that the same are L-shaped initially when placed in a shipping carton 46. Each coupling includes a pair of tubes 48 and 50, together with a joint 52 that interconnects the same. Tubes 48 are connected permanently to their corresponding elbows 42 and 44 at the factory, and the joint 52 permanently interconnects the two tubes 48 and 50. Manifestly, both tubes 48 and 50 are made from metallic material such as copper, and accordingly, the joint 52 comprises a flexible, metal hose.

Consequently, prior to attachment of the unit 10 to the walls 26 or 28 as the case may be, the joints 52 may be straightened, placing the tube 50 in alignment with tube 48, thereby permitting extension of the couplings 38 and 40 through enlarged openings 54 in finish floor 56 and sub-floor 58 of the building in which the heating system is installed. Thereupon, it is a simple matter to operably connect the terminal ends of the tubes 50 with supply pipes 60 beneath the floors 56-58 and attach such pipes 60 to the lowermost edges of floor joists 62 in the usual manner. In FIGS. 2 and 3, the tubes 50 are shown connected with .a T 64, and in FIG. 2, one of the tubes 50 is shown joined to an elbow 66, the fittings employed depending upon the nature of the network of supply pipes in any particular installation.

It is now adequately clear that within conventional limits, the width of the floor joists 62 is of no consequence since the installation can be made by simply swinging the tubes 50 and bending joints 52 as conditions may require. For example, as noted in FIG. 2, when the installation is used with floor joists 62 that are relatively wide, the tube 50 is sufiiciently long to reach to the lower edges of the joists 62 where the piping 60 is attached in engagement with such joists 62. On the other hand, if narrower joists are encountered as represented by line 62a, or even still narrower joists as indicated by line 62b in FIG. 2, the tubes 50 will readily swing upwardly to meet with the piping 60 that is attached in the proper location to such narrower joists.

Another factor that has been given consideration in arriving at a proper coupling capable of the results herein outlined, is the presence of plate 68 over foundation 70 and upon which the joists 62 rest. As is clear in FIG. 2, when the unit or units 10 are attached to the outside wall 26, the fact that the flexible joint 52 terminates well above the plate 68, avoids any interference and permits the installation in connection with various types of joists in the manner shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 and as above outlined.

Having thus described the invention what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

In building construction, an upright foundation Wall; a plate mounted on the upper margin of the foundation wall in overlying relationship thereto; an upright header mounted on the plate adjacent the normally outermost face of the foundation wall and extending along the longitudinal length of the upper margin thereof; a plurality of joists carried at one end thereof by the plate and in generally perpendicular relationship to the longitudinal length of said header; floor structure mounted on said joists and carried by the latter; an upright wall mounted on said floor structure adjacent the header and in generally parallel relationship thereto; an elongated radiator mounted on the wall adjacent the zone of juncture thereof with the floor structure, the foundation wall being of greater thickness than the combined width of the wall and said radiator structure to cause the inner face of the foundation wall to be spaced inwardly from the outer surface of the radiator; supply and return pipes secured to the lowermost edges of said joists, one of the pipes being located adjacent the inner face of said foundation wall; and initially L-shaped universal couplings interconnecting opposed ends of the radiator and the supply and return pipes, respectively, each of said couplings comprising rigid first and second tubes, each of the first tubes being connected at the upper end thereof to a corresponding extremity of the radiator and extending vertically through the floor structure, the first tube of the coupling connected to said one pipe being located in close proximity to said wall structure and in overlying rela tionship to said plate, each of said first tubes terminating at the lower ends thereof above the horizontal plane of the lowermost edges of the joists, the second tubes being connected to corrcspondingsupply, and return pipes, and a joint interconnecting thefirst and-second tubes of each coupling, each of said joints comprising a flexible metal hose, permitting the swinging of each of said second tubes to a selected angle, depending on the width of the joists, and permitting, also, compact packaging of the radiator and the couplings attached thereto as a unit withthe second tubes in spaced, overlappedparallelism with the radiator.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 486,986 Schinke Nov. 29, 13 2 1,626,400 Frank Apr. 26, 1927 2,201,312 Hauser May 21, 1940 2,256,338 Fentress Sept. 16, 1941 2,775,431 Krassowski Doc. 25, 19 

